Rainbow Dash was flying through Ponyville one day, going about her daily rounds to see if there's anypony in need of help. She had almost covered the area and was about to believe that all's well, when all of a sudden, she heard a loud "AAAAUUGH!!!" coming from the east side of town.
Rainbow jolted upon hearing this anguished scream, and upon hearing more of them, she realized "That sounds like Scootaloo!"
Rainbow flapped her wings rapidly and headed toward the direction of Scootaloo's house, where she arrived in under four seconds. She stopped short of hitting the outside of the house, and she curled the area in search of her surrogate little sister. "Scootaloo? Hey, Scoots! Ya alright?" she said as she looked through all the windows.
She found Scootaloo by looking through the pegasus filly's bedroom, and she appeared to be fine. But she wasn't.
She was lying down on her belly, her eyes shut hard, her teeth clenched, and banging her front hooves on the floor.
"Aaaugh! It hurts! It hurst so much!"
Rainbow flew in and landed next to Scootaloo, and she said to her "I came as fast as I could, Scoots. It where something wrong?"
"Nggggg," Scootaloo said as she tries to muster out an explanation. "My wiiiings! They huuuurt! Awwww! Heeeelp!"
"Oh my goodness," exclaimed a concerned Rainbow Dash, "Looks like you need to get to a hospital!"
"What!?" yelled Scootaloo in an offended tone, "I don't need to go to no hospital. I'm perfectly--"
But before Scootaloo could finish her defiant statement, the pain in her wings hit her again. Her hard-shut eyes started to leak tears.
"YAAAAGH! OKAY! OKAY! HURRY!"
"Roger that," said Rainbow Dash, who then threw Scootaloo into the air and went under her to get the filly onto her back. "Hang on!"
And she was off at an instant, en route to Ponyville General.
At the hospital, Scootaloo lied down on a doctor's table, still in pain from the tingles in her wings. Rainbow Dash was by her side. The doctor was out at the moment, as he had went to retrieve some x-ray photos he took of Scootaloo.
"Rainbow Dash," cried Scootaloo, "what's wrong with my wings?"
Rainbow replied, "I don't really know, Scoots. Maybe the doctor can explain when he gets back."
Just then, Dr. Petey Sure, a unicorn pediatrician, walked in levitating some X-ray photos with his horn. He magically set the photos into a board before facing the two pegasi.
Rainbow Dash asked out of compassion for her friend, "So, doc, what's wrong?"
The doctor explained, "Well, I went through these x-rays and, while most of Scootaloo's body is in good condition, there's something about her wings. They're smaller than average for a pegasus your age."
Scootaloo barked at him, knowing her past dealings with her wing problem, "I know that!"
The doctor made a "hush" gesture with his front hoof before going on. "Now, Miss Dash, you said that Scootaloo here has felt some pain in her wings."
"Yes," Dash replied.
"Hmmm," went the doctor, "I think I might know the problem here. And it's serious."
Scootaloo shot up, "What!?" She reacted to another stinging pain in her wings before she asked him "What's wrong with me?!"
The doctor said to the two pegasi, "Now, I've seen cases like this before. If these x-rays and the description of your ailment are any indication, my diagnosis is that Scootaloo here has what we in the medical profession call Stunted Wing Syndrome."
The two pegasi's eyes went wide. Scootaloo, shouting "Stunted what!?". Rainbow Dash shouted "Oh, no!" as if she had heard of it before.
"Oh yes," said the doctor with his head hanging low in empathy for the orange pegasus. "Stunted Wing Syndrome, or SWS, is a rare condition that stunts the growth of a pegasus's wings." The doc's horn then glowed and projected two images, one of a pegasus in profile, the other a pegasus facing frontward with its belly out and wings spread. In both images, red marks that looked like overinflated balloons appeared in the wing areas.
Scootaloo stood speechless and slack jawed, for she believed that she had finally found the reason as to why her wings weren't working as they should.
Rainbow Dash asked the doctor, "Then...why are Scoot's wings hurting?"
The doctor went on, "Because, Miss Dash, while her body is growing and maturing, her wings are not. To put it in a way you'll understand, they want to grow, but the SWS is not letting them. They're trying all they can to stretch out and blossom, but they're confined to that form forever."
Finally, Scootaloo spike, abbot with a high-pitched whimper in her voice. "Does...Does this mean...?"
"Yes, Scootaloo," the doctor said in an empathetic tone as he put his hoot on her shoulder. "Your wings will never grow with you, which will cause problems as your body mass increases. With those small wings, you can flutter above the ground for a few seconds, and your wings can propel your scooter like your friend told me, but I'm sad to say that..." He paused and took a deep breath.
"...you will never fly like a normal pegasus."
The orange filly's pupils shrank. She felt as though her world had crumbled and fell apart. The doctor's revelation endlessly echoed in her ears. Her eyes started to well up with tears. "No...No!...NOOOO!!!" She sank her head into her front hooves and cried her little eyes out on the table. Her sobbing was occasionally interrupted by her muttering "I'm not a pegasus..."
The doctor spoke again when her crying started to grow quiet. "The pains you are suffering are common in pegasi with SWS. They will strike every once in a while, but they will go away very soon."
The sobbing stopped after a while, but Scootaloo's eyes remained wide and teary-eyed, her face practically stoic.
"Uhh...thanks, doc," Rainbow Dash said as she carried the tired pegasus filly in her forelegs.
Rainbow flew quietly and slowly out of the doctor's office and out of the hospital to take Scootaloo home. She sighed with sorrow as she looked at the filly she was carrying. The tears were still coming down Scootaloo's cheeks.
Things looked bleak for the future.
This was the worst day of Scootaloo's life.
A trip to to doctor about her sore wings resulted in the ultimate bombshell: she has a rare pegasus ailment that prevents her wings from growing with her body. That means that she will never fly like a normal pegasus, especially her idol Rainbow Dash.
Now, the filly was in her room crying into the pillow on her bed, her surrogate sister beside her gently patting her hoof on her back.
"Look, Scootaloo, I know it's pretty big to take in. But it's not the end of the world."
The filly shot up from the pillow and pointed her face at Rainbow. "YES IT IS!"
She sobbed for a moment before she spoke up again. "Because of this stupid stumped wing thing, I can't fly! If I can't fly, what am ?!"
Rainbow Dash put her hooves over Scootaloo's shoulders and tried to calm her down.
"You're still a strong filly. Heck, I know several pegasi with SWS, and they're happy, normal lives."
Scootaloo's ears went down and she spoke. "But...what's a pegasus who can't fly? I mean, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon have made fun of me not flying for quite a while. Now, if they found out why, oh man!"
A teardrop fell from Scootaloo's eye.
"Hey," Scootaloo reassured, "I promise that you'll have a rich, happy, awesome life. And if those two scum-buckets or another sucker think they can joke about this, they're gonna have to answer to me."
Just then, they heard the front door open from downstairs. "Scootaloo," a voice yelled, "I'm home!"
Scootaloo's ears dropped again. "Oh no, Dad's home. How am I going to explain this to him."
Rainbow Dash again put her hoot around her. "Hey, we'll do this together. And I know your father; I'm sure he'll understand."
The blue pegasus walked the sad orange pegasus out of her room and made their way downstairs.
"Scootaloo?!" said Candy Corn, calling forces daughter upon arriving home from work.
"Coming, Dad," Scootaloo said quietly as she and Rainbow were trotting down the stairs.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash," Candy Corn said, "nice for you to drop by. Did Scootaloo have fun today?"
Rainbow's ears dropped, and she sighed. "Not very good, CC."
Candy Corn was shocked, "What? What happened? Did those two mean fillies--?!"
Rainbow Dash interrupted. "No, no, none of that. Something worse." She then looked toward Scootaloo. "Go one, tell him."
Scootaloo gulped and she slowly trotted to her father. "Dad..." She shook and took a few deep breaths before spitting it out. "I'm never gonna fly!"
CC failed to notice the seriousness. "Oh, you always say that when you flutter and drop."
"No, CC," Rainbow said with, "she'll never fly. We went to the doctor, and he said that Scootaloo has SWS!"
Candy Corn's eyes grew wide as saucers when he heard those three letters. "SWS!?!?!? Uh...SWS?"
Rainbow went on. "Yeah, Stunted Wing Syndrome. It's a rare pegasus disease that stunts the growth of the wings. I know a few pegasi who have that sort of thing. I didn't know much about it back then, but then again, a lot of pegasi don't. I found out more when Twilight read about it from one of her medical books, and I remember her telling me me that it's genetic."
Scootaloo stood up straight them Rainbow mentioned that tidbit. She shouted in sort of a confused and angry tone of voice.
"Genetic! You mean...I inherited this?"
Candy Corn's eyes grew wider.
Scootaloo went on with her winded rant. "B-B-But my mom didn't have it..." she said as she pointed to a photo of her late mother Swift Sway, a turquoise-colored pegasus, in the air with her wings spread wide.
"...and Dad, you're an Earth pony."
Candy Corn's eye's grew even wider, his teeth were clenched, and his chest started to move rapidly as if he was beginning to hyperventilate. Then, he signed and hung his head down as if in total shame.
"Scootaloo," he said quietly, "there's something I should have told you a long time ago. Sit down."
Confused over the matter, Scootaloo complied, and she and Rainbow sat down on the couch. Candy Corn trotted in front of them and began to talk.
"I knew I had to tell you this sometime. The truth is," he paused for a moment, his legs shaking.
"First off...I'm not really an Earth pony. I'm a pegasus. And I have SWS."
The two pegasi in the room shouted, "WHAT!?"
"B-B-B-ut, Dad," Scootaloo shouted, "you don't have any wings."
After a short pause, Candy Corn took off his shirt, and revealed two scars, one one either side of his shoulders, where a pegasus's wings would be.
His daughter gasped.
Candy Corn went on, sounding ashamed. "I had SWS, and I was an outcast up in Cloudsdale. I always fell, I couldn't flutter for more than five seconds, and everypony laughed at me. Like Rainbow said, a lot of pegasi are ignorant to what it really is, and they treated me like I was a diseased freak, said that my condition was a punishment from Celestia, and kept their distance wherever I went. After all that, I couldn't take it anymore. So...I had my cursed wings amputated and started a new life on the ground in Ponyville!"
Both pegasi's jaws dropped.
Rainbow put her hoof over her mouth. "Oh...Candy."
Scootaloo stammered. "I...I can't believe what I'm hearing."
Candy Corn shed a tear. "Yes...Yes, it's true."
He got himself together and continued. "Scootaloo, I met your mother shortly after I grounded myself. She knew nothing about me, and we hit it off nicely. Eventually, we had you. As you grew older, and I saw you trying your best to stay in the air, I feared that you got SWS from me. My fears came true today when Rainbow told me."
Candy began to get weak in the knees, and them he dropped onto his belly. He sobbed.
"Oh, Scootaloo! I'm so sorry! I'm so very sorry! It's my fault you're like this. It's my fault you're a flightless freak like me!"
The two pegasi watched as the stallion weeped onto the floor. Scootaloo's eyes welled up again, as did Rainbow Dash for the first time today. After a moment of holding her hooves to her head, Scootaloo went onto the floor and made a big sprint to her room.
Rainbow looked as her protege went upstairs and slammed her bedroom door shut. She then focused on the broken stallion on the floor. She went down, grabbed Candy's head with her front hooves and began stroking it.
"I's okay, Candy. It's okay. It's okay."
Candy Corn continued to weep, looking in the direction of his daughter's room. "She must really hate me right now."
Author's Note
When they mention that a lot of pegasi are ignorant about SWS, yes, I am making a reference to the AIDS crisis.